Arif Habib Consortium announced that Fauji Fertiliser Company Limited has joined its consortium, which acquired a 75% majority stake in Pakistan International Airlines with the highest bid of Rs135 billion in an auction held for the privatisation process of the national flag carrier.
The consortium, in its statement issued on Thursday, said the partnership will contribute to the airline’s financial support and corporate expertise. It added that Fauji Fertiliser will also be part of the management structure along with the Arif Habib Consortium. “The consortium will invest Rs125bn in the first year to upgrade ground operations and overall services.”
The Arif Habib Consortium also intends to increase the number of operational aircraft from 18 to 62, the statement said.
A day earlier, Adviser to Prime Minister on Privatisation Muhammad Ali told Reuters in an online interview that the state expects a new owner to be running the airline by April, subject to approvals.
The process now moves to final approvals by the Privatisation Commission board and the cabinet, expected within days, with contract signing likely within two weeks and financial close after a 90-day period to meet regulatory and legal conditions.
The deal was structured to inject fresh capital into the airline rather than simply transfer ownership, he said. “We did not want a situation where the government sells the airline, takes its money, and the company still collapses,” Ali said.
PIA auction
The auction held on Tuesday marked Pakistan’s first major privatisation in nearly two decades and comes amid pressure to reform loss-making state firms under a $7bn International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.
Arif Habib and Lucky Cement consortia advanced to the open auction stage after placing offers above the reference price of Rs100bn, while private airliner Airblue exited the bidding after submitting an offer of Rs26.5bn.
In the first round of the open auction, Lucky Cement Limited–led consortium increased its earlier bid of Rs101.5bn to Rs115.5bn. The round concluded with Arif Habib increasing its bid to Rs121bn, while Lucky Cement closed the session with an offer of Rs120.25bn.
The organisers then announced a 30-minute recess at the request of Lucky Cement.
Later, Lucky Cement increased its bid to Rs134bn, immediately followed by a counteroffer of Rs135bn from Arif Habib.
Opposition rejects PIA privatisation
The opposition alliance, Tehreek Tahaffuz Aiyeen-e-Pakistan (TTAP), has rejected and refused to recognise what it termed a “hasty and opaque” privatisation process of PIA, being pursued by what it described as an “illegal” federal government, The News reported.
The TTAP warned that all such transactions would be “subject to review and scrutiny” in the future.
In a policy statement, the opposition alliance maintained that PIA is a national asset built through public resources and decades of collective national effort.
It said any attempt to dispose of the airline without public mandate, parliamentary oversight, transparency, and constitutional legitimacy is unacceptable and void in moral and political terms. –Agencies
